


I'll get by

by hazelandglasz



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Comfort, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pack Feels, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-19
Updated: 2013-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-05 04:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1089614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazelandglasz/pseuds/hazelandglasz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>hazelnutandcream asked :</p><p>maybe based on the recent promo (dunno if you’ve seen the Stiles wake up scene or ypu don’t want spoilers, so I won’t say anything about it), but basically a fic where Stiles is having trouble dealing with the whole Nemeton thing and cue Scott and Derek and Allison friendship and stuff?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll get by

… With a little help from my friends

—-

He didn’t expect this.

The never ending panic attack.

The feeling that a part of him was missing, and worse, was being replaced by something much darker.

Stiles had heard Deaton’s warnings, about their very soul being involved in the process to save their parents. He did.

He didn’t … expect this.

 

He truly feels like he’s losing his mind, somewhere between dreams and reality, unable to distinguish one from the other.

Stiles is used to having his brain all over the place, on more than one topic at a time, but he’s not used to think that his brain is the enemy.

That being said, he knows that it could be worse.

He could be alone in this.

But pack means something, even for those who are still so very human.

Scott might be affected by the Nemeton, but he’s the Alpha now.

(Peter doesn’t count, his presence on the borders of Beacon Hills is barely a blip in their radar as they try to manage. An Alpha acting like an Omega - Stiles has a basket of jokes for that, but it’ll have to wait)

And as Alpha, Scott manages to put his own worries aside to take care of him - that’s a nice change in their dynamics, Stiles confesses one night they’re drinking hot cocoa on the roof of the McCalls’ house.

Scott punches his shoulder lightly, before tightening the light fleece cover he has brought around the two of them.

"Those moments you keep missing," he says softly, his eyes flashing red for a moment, "it’s not you, it’s not who you are, Stiles."

"I know," the young man says, burrowing into Scott’s side to get more of his warmth (and a little more comfort).

"Do you ?" Scott asks and Stiles sighs, taking a sip of the hot beverage. "You don’t seem convinced, bro."

Stiles smiles at his best friend, just a little bit sad. “I will, just … I will,” he repeats, voice going a little bit stronger.

——

But sometimes, even the Alpha can’t get it.

And it helps that another human is in his shoes.

Not that he’s happy that Allison is having haunting vision of Kate McDeranged Argent, far from it. It just feels comforting to know that he’s not affected by the Nemeton because he’s a weak human.

As he runs with Allison around the lake - they both feel like they need to burn some extra energy, maybe to have a dreamless sleep ? - he stays quiet, letting her list the many reasons behind their visions.

"Maybe it’s just some sort of supernatural PTSD ?" she suggests as they quicken their pace. "Like, we’ve been through so much this year, with the ritual being -"

”- the peak of it,” Stiles supplies and she nods.

"Exactly. Well, our brain is dealing the best it can, and honestly, you telling yourself to wake up and me seeing my dead aunt everywhere is not that - that surprising," she concludes, and Stiles is surprised to see that she is starting to get out of breath when he’s not even a little bit tired.

That makes him think : true, in retrospect, discovering that there is a whole world in the shadows - literally - can be considered as a traumatic event, and that would be without even taking into consideration the fact that he saw people being maimed and killed.

It does feel like the mother of all nightmares, and he should be telling himself to wake up.

"Thanks, Allison," he says as they reach their last lap.

"Anytime, Mordka," she says with a wink, giving an acceleration that makes him eat her dust.

——

Speaking of PTSD, there is one person who really knows what he’s talking about.

Stiles doesn’t need help getting over it - because if he was, Derek would be the last person he would go to - he just wants to know that it isn’t as alien as he feels.

And Derek is back, with that goal in mind.

Not becoming the Alpha again, not killing his uncle (again). Just be part of the pack and show his support to his younger packmates, let them benefit his experience (even if he’s not that much older than them).

Stiles can see it in Derek’s eyes : he needs it just as much as they - as he - need it.

The more they talk, Stiles about his fear of becoming a monster, Derek about the ways to control both fears and monsters, the more Stiles realizes that Derek Hale might have been someone completely different if he had not been through so much.

Maybe his green eyes would be lighter - both in shade and in emotion -, maybe he would let that shadow of a smile grow more often.

Being with a pack, being under Scott’s timid leadership ? It’s doing wonders for his psyche, and Stiles finds that it’s easier to focus when he keeps his packmate at the forefront of his mind as an anchor, like Derek explained for the werewolves during a full moon.

They both know, hell, the whole pack knows that Derek’s anchor is not just the pack, but a very human member of it.

Stiles didn’t expect to find his own anchor into reality in the werewolf.

But then again, as he already said, he didn’t expect this.

As the days pass and as the insanity seems to lift progressively, he comes to a conclusion that makes the recovery even easier.

Just because something is unexpected, it doesn’t mean it can’t be a positive change.


End file.
